Hedge-Fund Chief, Picasso Heir to Toast Rare Menil Gala

Philanthropists and art collectors John and Dominique de Menil. The couple's passion for art became the Menil Collection, a Houston-based museum which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Source: Menil Collection/via Bloomberg

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Houston’s Menil Collection will
celebrate its 25th anniversary tomorrow night with a sold-out
party that has already raised $2.2 million, well beyond its $1.5
million goal.

It’s only the third gala staged by the free museum, which
holds a major art collection including works by Paul Cezanne,
Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol. An endowment of about $200 million
and generous support from the board, donors and corporate
sponsors keeps the budget healthy.

“We now raise about 40 percent of our operating budget”
without galas, the director, Josef Helfenstein, said by phone.

Designed by Renzo Piano and opened in 1987, the museum
houses the once-private collection of France-born John and
Dominique de Menil, who moved to Houston from Europe before
World War II.

In 1945, John de Menil paid $300 for a Cezanne watercolor
that he brought home from New York in his suitcase. The couple
became addicted to collecting and ended up with more than 16,000
artworks.

The gala’s theme, “Celebration in Blue,” pays tribute to
Yves Klein, a leader of the 1960s new-realism movement in
painting and a de Menil family friend. Blue will dominate the
large tent used for cocktails and dinner, and in the museum’s
main foyer. Some of Klein’s works also will be on display.

Picasso Grandson

The more than 700 guests will include John D. Arnold,
founder and manager of hedge fund Centaurus Energy LP, who
retired this year after 17 years as an energy trader; Bernard
Ruiz-Picasso, the grandson of Pablo Picasso; New York
philanthropist Agnes Gund, president emerita of the Museum of
Modern Art; and Paal Kibsgaard, chief executive officer of
Houston-based oilfield-services giant Schlumberger Ltd.
(Dominique de Menil, the daughter of Conrad and Louise
Schlumberger, was the heiress to the Schlumberger fortune.)

While dining on stuffed quail, patrons and guests will see
a slide show about the Menil’s history.

“We want to look back and we want to move forward,”
Helfenstein said about the evening. “Since we don’t do this
very often, we’d like to strike a balance.”

More money is expected to be raised from the evening’s
silent art auction. The 31 lots include works by Maurizio
Cattelan, Ed Ruscha; Olafur Eliasson and Richard Serra. The
proceeds from the gala and auction will support operations and
exhibitions of the Menil, which has a $16 million budget.

Helfenstein said the museum plans to boost the
contemporary-art collection and build the Menil Drawing
Institute that will house and exhibit modernist and contemporary
works.

“Twenty-five years means you’re out of college and you’re
not 18 anymore,” Helfenstein said about the collection. “We’re
part of the community, and we’re stewards of our own legacy.”